


Once Bitten, Twice Shy

by Strewn_Limbs



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Gotham City - Freeform, M/M, Nygmobblepot, Oswald is a vamp, a little necro-romance never hurt anyone, and he accidentally found partnership, at least the corpse is sentient so..., i mean..., just a creep that loves a corpse, murder boyfriends, normal Ed just doing normal Ed stuff, technically he's dead so he's basically a corpse, there's that at least, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-10 00:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15279249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strewn_Limbs/pseuds/Strewn_Limbs
Summary: Oswald was a mere 267 years old, but a baby in comparison to other vampires.Perhaps he would never learn his lesson not to love humans.Perhaps he'd always be stuck with heartbreak when they eventually left himStill, some humans were worth the end, for the journey they could bring.





	Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Oswald continually played with his own lower lip, stroking it with his knuckle, pinching it with his thumb, lost in thought as he sat in the silence of his parlor. He had something of an oral and mandibular fixation, but that was to be expected when his life counted on being able to sink his teeth into someone. People would comment how his jaw hung slack, that he’d catch flies with his mouth open how it often was. They didn’t know the half of it, if need be he could unhinge his jaw to a degree to get a better piece.

Not every neck was so bite-friendly. 

Oswald tapped the fingers of the hand still sat on the armrest of the chair he sat in, staring at the door across from him that lead to the main hall. He was becoming impatient. The life of a vampire was nothing but waiting. Waiting for the sun to set. Waiting for time to pass. Waiting for acceptance. Waiting for a new era. Waiting… Waiting… More waiting.

He was tired of waiting.

He’d waited for 236 years to this point, now 267 years old… he’d done enough waiting. He waited through progress and innovation. He waited through wars and depressions. He waited through world altering events and boring days. He waited through everything.

And all to find someone to love him.

To be honest, that was never a goal in Oswald’s eyes. He’d had someone to love him for the first thirty-one years of his life. His mother was the most wonderful person in the world. She was a saint, she was honest, she was protective and loving. She was everything he could’ve asked for in a parent. When he had to leave her behind, move without her… it broke his heart. He kept in contact with her by letter and mail for as long as he could, until she could no longer write back. 

At that point, Oswald had chosen to visit her. He wasn’t prepared mentally or emotionally for what he experienced. She was suffering from dementia, he didn’t know what kind, but it was some form of mental decline. Back then no one paid it much mind, and the once-man didn’t have closure for many questions until 145 years later. 

That’s what one got for being born in 1730. 

To fast forward to his current time, he’d found the care of someone who accepted him… Someone he could tell his secret to. Someone who had no issues with his early hours of work, his inability to be outside in all weathers at all times. Someone who didn’t mind an odd knick every now and then, someone who invited his odd anatomical curiosities with an open mind. 

It was a happy surprise. It truly was.

Oswald developed a fascination with playing with his lower lip from his newer-found sweetheart. He always had habits of a slack mouth, of adjusting his jaw, skewing his mouth about, letting his tongue play against his teeth, but his partner’s appearance in his life made lip playing a new habit for the list.

It was the mutual affection. It did him in every time.

 

Oswald realized in having a partner he could love, in having someone he actively wished to share affections with… he experienced there was so much to enjoy with little things together. Things they could share. Like teasing. His love’s uncontrollable curiosity made things interesting between them. And he couldn’t resist teasing vampire myths and stereotypes to make his partner wonder what was real fact for him and what wasn’t.

Edward Nygma was a man of many quirks.   
Edward Nygma was a man of many interests.  
Edward Nygma… was a man of hands-on learning. 

 

The day he exposed his secret to Edward, when Oswald was comfortable enough to open himself to sharing his life’s story with the man, he felt himself scrutinized constantly. Though, it was never done maliciously. Edward stared at him because he was curious, not because he was judging. He stared at him because he was fascinating to him, not because he was a freak. He stared at him because he was an interesting oddity, not because he had to be feared for his lifestyle. 

Oswald, one day, let Edward examine him closely. As closely as they were to each other now, romantically speaking. It hadn’t been officially titled, but the two were in a domestic tango that could be confused for either an active relationship or an intimate friendship. They took care of each other, preened each other, made small adjustments to the other. They spent great deals of time together even when unnecessary. Oswald had no need for food people consumed, but he still made sure to schedule meals so they could sit together.

Edward had been curious if vampires were all they were rumored to be. If they were large, winged, beastial-appearing people with wings, who could transform into bats. And it was ridiculous to believe everything one saw, but Oswald supposed he couldn’t entirely blame the human. Ed was something of a geek and being absorbed into comics, games, and such would produce an active imagination. 

So Oswald let Edward ask questions, which were constant. Even if he sometimes gave teasing answers. And to look him over, which was very thorough. One thing that caught the vampire’s attention especially was how the other opened his mouth, a thumb taking up the left half of his lower lip to guide his jaw open. How the man coaxed his mouth or lips around to get a better view, how each touch wasn’t a prod, it was a gentle stroke start to finish. How Edward played with his mouth to study his teeth and to see his fangs… 

 

The thought had Oswald dragging the inside of his lower lip against his thumb, picturing how Edward was during the first feeding he ever mutually accepted from the man. With how the man of science studied him, Oswald felt it only fair he had the opportunity to play as well.

An eye for an eye.   
It’s how he always lived.

Oswald had stated it was apart of the process, it gave a more full experience to how a true feeding would happen. Not like how he’d first bitten Edward in an alley months ago. To lure a human in to feed on them was safer than simply attacking. It caused less of a fight and got them in close to a point where it was too late to cause a ruckus to save themselves. If Ed wanted the entire experience, he was simply going to need to sit through it all. Start to finish.

Mindlessly playing with his lower lip became more of a habit he partook in when he began letting Edward in on the _full experience_. He’d brush the tip of his nose along Ed’s neck, toying with him, grinning at the shivers he could encourage from the other. Breath ghosting across skin, lower lip dragging over pulse point. 

Getting a person’s heart racing increased the quality of feeding. The options of fear or anticipation were viable to increase heart rate, which would deliver the anticoagulate his fangs naturally injected faster through the body. The numbing agent would soothe the human’s skin as he fed, then he was free to lick and drink the blood that refused to clot. Anticipation and excitement were a favored method of his with willing participants, making a much more clean feeding.

Edward had a beautifully long neck. There was so much skin to tease and play with, it was easy to see the goosebumps that ran down to his back under his shirt. Oswald sat behind Ed, hand threaded into the man’s hair. Edward’s forehead against his forearm, cheek into bicep, Oswald cradelled the head of the human he agreed to feed on with it guided to the side to give him space to work. His free hand had sat on Ed’s shoulder, keeping his feeding partner relatively still as he drug his tongue over skin, blowing across the dampened area to see Ed shiver again.

When Oswald finally decided to finish with his foreplay he let his lower lip glide across Ed’s neck again. Fangs retracted from gums, hand slipping from shoulder to slide over the human’s chest to hold him closely, biting with practiced precision into the correct channels. 

 

The sound of a door took Oswald from his thoughts, able to hear the main entrance from his place in his manor. The vampire rose from his seat, taking one step forward before his body disappeared, leaving behind a plume of purple smoke so dark it seemed black. The smoke moved towards the window a few feet then vanished from sight as well.

It had been a long day of waiting, now in the evening he wished to give his significant other a proper greeting home.

 

Edward shut the front door behind himself, hanging his trenchcoat from a rack in the entryway with a shake of his arms once his hands were empty. It was drizzling all morning and the still progressing spring weather left everything feeling chilly. He had a long day leading the police around in circles, avoiding arrest when Jim proved, once again, that he was the only real threat the GCPD had for officers.

He removed his hat, hanging it above his coat as he stepped into the too large house, loosening his tie as he walked in the building more. 

With one foot off the entry way rug, the lights went out. 

Ed glanced around, freezing in place as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting coming through any of the windows and further away rooms. “I cannot remove, but leave nothing behind. I take from your sight and give nothing back.” He spoke into the room, eyes to the ceiling and then the space around him, listening intently for anything. “What am I?”

Air moved behind Ed despite nothing changing in the space around him, standing alone but knew he had company. 

“Darkness.”

Ed smiled, turning around where the voice had come from, feeling both anxious and excited as he mentally prepared for th-

“Did you miss me?” Hands took Ed’s ribs from behind him, black nailed-fingers sliding forward until they wrapped around his abdomen. 

The sudden appearance of holding made Ed jump slightly, his heart beating faster at the unexpected timing of the other’s arrival. Hot breath skirted over his collar, teasing the exposed skin possible. “A-Always.” The man replied, catching his breath with a chuckle and set his hands over the ones around him. “It seems you’ve missed me as well?”

“I may have.” The vampire stood on his toes behind Edward, wedging his nose between the fabric of his collar and skin. “I’ve been thinking of you this evening.” He informed the other, sneaking one hand away from Ed’s torso to cup the side of the man’s neck instead.

Ed swallowed thickly before leaning his head back, using a hand to quickly tug at the knot of his tie to loosen it further, with fingers pushing buttons out of fabric chokeholds to open the top portion of his shirt. If Oswald was thinking of him and had such a dramatic greeting, he knew what this would lead to. “What have you been thinking of, Oswald?”

He could make an educated guess, but it sounded so much better coming from the other. 

Oswald developed a devious grin as Ed’s long fingers fanned out his collar, exposing the sweet skin for his use. “I’ve been considering our partnership. How you study me. How you are so focused on me.” 

“You are a mythological wonder, how could I resist? You are a rare opportunity to learn and I am ready to accept responsibility for my studies.” 

The vampire laughed breathily in amusement before licking up Edward’s neck as much as he could, allowing his lower lip to drag several centimeters even as his tongue disappeared from play. “And how you will suffer to pay for your curiosity.” Oswald teased the other, dragging his teeth across the dampened skin at first before his fangs began to descend. “Why don’t I remedy your lack of anguish?”

Oswald’s voice was a whisper in Ed’s ear, the man nodding with obvious excitement in his eyes. “Can we… sit down first? The last time I couldn’t feel my legs.” He still put in a suggestion for them, feeling the vampire slip away to appear in front of him too quickly, offering a hand to the human. 

“I have a better idea.”

Oswald lead the way with Ed in tow, hands joined between them, hobbling his way to the parlor for his partner’s comfort. The vampire still had a limp from long ago, back when someone did not agree with his world views and believed he deserved something memorable for them. Turning to a vampire only cured and healed new wounds, it wouldn’t fix what he already had. He still had phantom pains, but relatively the limb was fine.

In the parlor they walked, Oswald gesturing to the couch for Ed to take a seat. When the man got comfortable on a cushion, Oswald pushed him over with one hand. He made the human lay down, straddling Ed’s hips as he stared down at his evening meal. “Will this suffice?”

Ed nodded his head in return, hands finding a home with one around the outside of either of Oswald’s thighs. “I think this will work.” He agreed quickly, feeling his breath catch in his throat when Oswald leaned over him, staring the human unabashedly in the eyes. It made Ed lock contact with a wide stare, pupils bouncing over Oswald’s face to try and predict what the vampire may do next.

“You look ravishing when you’re anxious.” Oswald could hear Ed’s heart pounding in his chest, supporting himself while the other helped him prepare by opening the man’s collar on the side he preferred. Ed was waiting on his every move, always prepared to see what might happen despite having fed on him once every week for the last four months. 

“And you look dangerous when you’re hungry.” Though Ed had an odd fascination for dangerous people. It was an attractive feature, somewhat fearful for what could happen to him but that’s what made it exciting. Oswald could tear him open at any moment, drink him dry of any and all blood, throw away his shrivelled husk, then continue his life. Instead, Oswald teased him, played with him, coaxed him into games, and threatened him emptily with a smile. 

This life intrigued him beyond belief. A dangerous, villain type. A figure to look up to, now that being applied literally as well. He learned his basics from Oswald, the vampire showed him how to embrace a villainous side of himself and it was thrilling. Being at the mercy of someone that could easily decimate him, counting on loyalty, favoritism, and some love to keep him alive…? It had his heart drumming to think about.

“You are always one for the challenge of danger, aren’t you?” 

“I enjoy the side effects of it.”

“You have an issue with addiction, Edward. Looking for a new thrilling emotion and where to find it, trying to raise your adrenaline for your own enjoyment.” Oswald tsked before he met Edward’s lips with his own, sharing the affection. A habit he perhaps had started earlier than he should have some time ago, though now he had no regrets. “That’s a poor habit to get into, I must say.”

Ed stared up at the vampire from his place on the couch, hand skirting up Oswald’s legs to hold onto his hips with care. “A poor habit that’s lead me here with you. I like to consider it as an experiment that’s reached a replicable stage.” And once an experiment could be repeated with the same result, it was a success. 

Oswald had been against any bonding since meeting Ed, having tried to douse the man’s curiosity in order to save anyone the heartache. One day Edward would need to grow old and die, it’s how humans worked, attaching to a person was dangerous. Watching them get older, lose their basic functions, watch them let go of abilities they once had… he’d been through it a couple times and it was not something he was very fond of. Simply turning a human was irresponsible and he wouldn’t willfully take away someone’s chance at a fulfilling human life like that.

“Hmm. And what is so easy to replicate here?”

Ed was an odd human. He had odd habits, he did things for or to people that the average citizen wouldn’t. He followed, he stalked, he gave odd presents, he offered to do things he shouldn’t, he gave facts and riddles out like they were prized keepsakes… 

“This. This situation. Us together and having you so interested in me.” The man replied back with a pleased grin, thumbs brushing over hips absentmindedly.

 

He was a try-hard at first, but Ed mellowed out some with recognition and praise. The human didn’t try _as_ hard but there was little lack in effort from him. 

Oswald could recall walking the streets the first night he bit Edward, having been trying to make a point. Only to have it backfire from Ed’s general personality. He knew the man had been stalking him, Ed walking in the shadows as though he was stealthy and hadn’t tripped over a homeless man three blocks back and made himself even more known.

Still, Oswald let him follow.

The limping vampire turned down an alley, watching as the man entered several minutes later from atop the roof on one of the buildings that made the narrow passageway. Oswald observed a human in a dark sweater and trousers searching the alley with a keen eye, looking quite cozy in his plaid patterned trench coat. When the man wasn’t looking, Oswald used his smokey travelling to appear behind Ed, pushing him against the alley wall with a heavy glare.

He’d been following him on and off for two weeks going on three, and Oswald had enough. He threatened the man, warned him to stop. When Ed refused, the vampire got angry, yelling in the other’s face, fangs extended in warning with eyes that glowed like hot metal in a forge.

Still, Ed hadn’t shown signs that he’d stop. He was scared, but his intrigue and his curiosity were stronger.

In a fit to see a challenged stare squashed, Oswald hauled off the man’s tie, keeping him in place to the wall as he tore open the collar of Ed’s chocolate brown shirt with pinpoint, powder blue dots to make a lasting statement. The vampire ripped off the top three shirt buttons in the process, pulling the collar open with one hand while the other used unnatural strength with fingers splayed to keep Ed against the brick wall of the building.

Ed struggled, he flailed his long limbs, and yet he didn’t call for help. He whined, he whimpered, he stuttered his words, but he didn’t yell for help or shout once.

Oswald licked his lips, feeling and hearing just how hard Ed’s heart was racing, wasting no time to bite down on the neck he exposed. The man had an uncommon blood type, one that Oswald could taste once he injected both fluids into the man’s skin, licking what blood trickled to the surface once his fangs were removed from flesh. The vampire had expected a number of things from the human who couldn’t take the opportunity to scream for help, what he hadn’t thought he’d get was a moan when he began to suck more blood out.

It was breathy. It was needing. It was followed by hands against his shoulders, fingers going back and forth on whether they wanted to tap or clutch. Usually, fear and struggling kept away any perverse thoughts of this being a pleasant event to the human victim.

Still, there was Ed, knees shaking like a newborn giraffe, fingers finally deciding to grip Oswald’s shoulders as the vampire sucked on the puncture marks to take in the feeding. The man moving a hand to cover his own mouth, moaning again into his palm to stifle the noise. 

The odd human got off on it.

Oswald, confused, pulled back with blood smeared over his lips and chin to stare into the human’s half-lidded eyes. Whatever was wrong with him… He was done.

Though it happened again.  
And again.  
And again…

Each time the pair getting somewhat closer until they actually spoke during the feedings. Ed would follow him, Oswald let him catch up, the vampire backed him into a wall or corner to feed and Ed would make sounds like a teenager’s first exploration into a hormonal encounter. After the third feeding Ed couldn’t stay entirely silent, speaking to Oswald through happy noises while moving arms to hold the vampire around the shoulders.

It became a familiar pattern quickly.

 

“It’s difficult to not be interested in you, Edward. You’re an interesting person.” Oswald pointed out with a peck between them, moving his interest to Ed’s neck after, licking to skin quite pleased. “And you have little, to no, regard for your own life. It is interesting.” For someone with a limited lifespan, at least.

Ed’s head lolled to the side away from Oswald, making room as a shiver trailed down his back, heart racing wildly in his chest. “Answering a question is often worth th-” He squirmed with an uncomfortable reactionary noise as fangs punctured his skin, breaking the top layer to inject him with the numbing agent and blood thinner Oswald naturally produced. The few second bite was all it took before the vampire withdrew his teeth, licking over the paired wounds with care. 

The several seconds that followed gave Edward a pleasant numbing over his body, unaware of the stinging in his neck anymore, but it made it feel like every other touch he received was electrifying to the skin. 

So began the feeding. 

Oswald lapped at the blood that first began to drip down Edward’s neck, latching on with his lips when that was no longer enough. The vampire drew on the skin, sucking deeply as a hand of his moved to slide under Ed’s head to hold it and direct it as needed. To have a more natural, front facing angle of the head loosened the muscles and made feeding easier.

As blood left the punctures, Ed shifted slightly and his toes curled inside the shoes he hadn’t taken off yet. A soft moan of satisfaction left his mouth, eyelids sinking shut. These were some of Ed’s favorite times. 

Should he get aroused from a creature that could very well kill him with a twitch of his hand, drinking blood from his body…? Probably not. There was likely some Freudian explanation for this, but Ed loved the danger. He’d lived a very secluded and careful life as a teenager, even into university.

He’d gotten his first tastes of criminal and negative activity when he was hired by the GCPD to help with forensics. The bodies, the puzzles, the questions, the dangerous situations…! Being able to hold a gun and fire it, taking knives and shoving them into dummies, using hammers to create blood splatter patterns… The little forensics basics that all gave him a happy sense of accomplishment, of comfort, and thrill.

Being held under a being that could kill him in an instant, paired with the sweet sentiment that the same being was thinking of him that day so fondly… It was a dangerous combination for Edward. Thrill and praise. Danger and recognition. 

His favorite things.

Oswald remained over Ed, amused by the pleased noises the human made. His groans, his whines, his moans. Everything that was once odd about feeding from Ed felt comfortable now. The human adored the thoughtful attention, so the vampire did what he could to make his partner feel special as often as possible. Which included feeding from only him as much as he could.

Though Oswald also knew there were limits and refused to overfeed from Ed in order to maintain the other’s health. Which had taken practice to learn where the human’s boundaries were, but it was solved after a couple weeks.

Oswald parted slightly from Ed when he could feel the human’s hands begin to slip from his hips, consistantly trying to maintain grip. “Bandage.” He instructed, staying over the puncture holes in Ed’s neck, lapping at the blood that continued to push to the surface. Even though he was essentially an animated corpse with a blood pressure so low he’d be thought of as dead, he was an extremely sanitary being. Vampire saliva acted as an anti-bacterial cleanser, preventing infection and allowing the wounds to heal quickly and cleanly.

One of Ed’s hands fell to the couch cushions, reaching into his pocket for a thin, bifold wallet. Where some men might keep a condom in their wallet, _just in case_ , Edward kept a long bandaid. Just in case of feedings. 

Vampires had no natural way of clotting the blood of their feed, so it kept things neater to bandage Ed and let his body process and work through the fluids organically. 

The wallet was dropped on the floor as Oswald gave the puncture marks one last lick, grinning at Ed’s shiver before the bandaid was placed over the glistening wounds. “Happy?”

Ed laid nearly perfectly still, other than the rise and fall of his chest with his breathing. “Very.” His smile was obvious, long and lazy across his mouth as lips curled inwards. “Forever?” He questioned the vampire in a seemingly cryptic manner.

Oswald merely smiled, shoulders shimmying in his delight. “For every day I have left.”

The two weren’t quite at an admittance of _‘I love you’_ s yet, but they found a comfortable compromise. What began as an exchange of _‘how long do you think we’ll stay together?’_ became a shortened version for the two to swap feelings for their developing relationship. Ed would simply ask _‘Forever?’_ to inquire their length of time, and Oswald would reply with his immortality. He wasn’t sure yet if it was love, but he needed Ed.

Every day he needed something of the man to be happy. His company, a phone call, a note left behind, a stolen yet-to-be-washed sweater, even a book opened to a paragraph of some novel Ed was reading that reminded him of them. Anything.

He didn’t want to risk losing another love, but what he was discovering with Ed… it felt okay at the time to risk it. He already promised the man every day that he had, so he supposed he was stuck with adoring Ed unconditionally until then.

Drat.

Oswald laid himself over Ed entirely, or as much as he physically could, jaw rested on the human’s shoulder with their ears side-by-side. His arms snuck their way under Ed, hugging his torso with one of his legs staying on the outside while the other fell between the person’s beneath him.

“You make it difficult to breathe.”

“I haven’t had to breathe in 230 years, deal with it. This is where I am.” 

Ed chuckled breathlessly, arms making their way around Oswald in return, leaning his head against the other’s. His eyes closed, taking in the moment, glad for the nights he spent tracking down the mysterious body that had risen in the examination room one day. His perseverance paid off, information he gathered having aided him in tracking the vampire more accurately each trip.

He’d thought Oswald’s corpse was rather handsome, and now was glad that was a point he hadn’t said aloud to what he thought was another body on a table. That… would’ve been embarrassing. He’d been sitting quietly for quite some time, making notes, doing paperwork. He’d been too quiet. So when Oswald’s body rose from the table he'd been on…

One could imagine the mix of concern and fascination the man developed after he was finished with his jump and yelling. Oswald merely eyed him and took off in a rush, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. How Oswald eyed him, his looks, his scowl, and his instantaneous vanishing. It wasn’t difficult to see how his crush began.

The man yawned, body relaxing as he began to drift off, blood loss taking its toll. He needed to recuperate, but he and Oswald had been through the feeding enough times he knew what to expect when he woke from a nap later on. The vampire would be waiting for him to wake, nutrition nearby, iron supplements beside that, hydration, everything needed for him to bounce back. 

“Oz…” Ed muttered, feeling his head nod into his partner’s several times as he tried to stay awake enough just to finish his thought.

“Hmm? Yes, Ed?”

“... Forever isn’t long enough.” 

Oswald hushed the man beneath him, taking a hand from under Ed’s back to remove his glasses, keeping them for the moment while he held the human easily in his position. “Sleep, Ed. We’ll make your forever everything it’s worth.”

As Edward drifted off he could only imagine what it would be like if their forevers were the same.

Forever.  
For every day that _they_ would have left.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Harpaax on Tumblr who made me a beautiful set of images for my, at the moment, ongoing series The Edcubus.  
> They are wonderful and you should look at the gorgeous art with your very own eyeballs here:  
> http://harpaax.tumblr.com/post/175759109412/the-kiss-remained-a-battle-of-tongues-and-breath
> 
> I hope I did any of this justice, but at the very least these two are amazing to write for!  
> Thank you for the art, my Love! It's amazing. <3


End file.
